Changes

The Eastern Orthodox Church is a body of Christians that claims origins extending directly back to [[Jesus]] and his [[Apostles]] through unbroken [[Apostolic Succession]]. Its doctrines were formalized through a series of church councils in the following centuries. Toward the end of its first thousand years of existence differences developed between the Church in the Eastern and Western Roman Empire that ultimately led to the [[Great Schism]] in 1054 dividing Christianity into [[Roman Catholicism]] and Eastern Orthodoxy. Today the Eastern Orthodox Church includes the the various national churches of Eastern Europe such as the [[Greek Orthodox]] and [[Russian Orthodox]] churches, and maintains a strong presence in these ethnic communities in countries such as the United States and Australia.